A CHARITY set up for a Cobham boy who has a degenerative muscle condition is inviting the whole country to hold a cake party to raise funds and find a cure for the disease.

Harrison Smith was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in January last year at the age of five. The condition leaves sufferers without the ability to walk in their teens and causes heart or lung failure by the time they reach their early 20s.

After realising the cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy was within reach, Harrison’s parents, Alex and Donna, set up Harrison’s Fund to raise money for further research.

Now Harrison and his grandmother Jenni have decided to invite others to take part in their two favourite things – cakes and baking.

“I really love cake,” Harrison wrote on the invitation. “Chocolate, sponge, battenbergs, I really like them all. They taste even better when friends eat some with me.

“And I think that’s the same for you, so why not ask some of your friends round to eat cake with you?

“And when they’ve got a big slice in their mouth, why not ask them to donate to my fund? They won’t be able to say no then.”

Harrison also has his own cookbook, Cake Time, written by his family, friends and various celebrities including last year’s Great British Bake-Off winner Jo Wheatley and this year's MasterChef winner Shelina Permaloo.

Father Alex said: “Jenni came up with the idea. She’s our fundraising co-ordinator, a great baker and she wanted to do something that would resonate with lots of people.

“Cooking programmes are very popular so hopefully it will raise money very quickly.”

So far, the fund’s cake campaign has spread across the country and globally as far as a rooftop party in Hong Kong, and there have also been gatherings in Sweden and Australia.